When you have a new baby in the house, everything in your life can quickly get turned upside-down. Luckily, there are things that you can do to help you focus on both your needs and your baby’s needs so that you both can feel like you’re thriving during these times rather than just surviving.
To help you see how this can be done, here are three tips to help you thrive during the newborn phase.
Trust Your Instincts
Whether you’re a first-time parent or you’ve been around the block a time or two, bringing a new baby home can have you questioning what to do and how to best care for your new little one. And while there is all kinds of advice that you can read online or ask your friends and family members about, you should always take advice with a grain of salt and trust your own instincts.
Sometimes, if you allow yourself to do too much research about every little thing your baby is doing or you think they should be doing, you can add a lot of unnecessary stress to your life. So in these beginning days and weeks, if you have questions or concerns, try to get in touch with your pediatrician rather than taking to the Internet, as you’ll be able to get more personalized answers this way as opposed to just doom scrolling.
Experiment To Find What Works
Every baby is different. Because of this, tricks that might have worked on your previous kids or that your newborn care specialist recommends might not work for your little one. With this in mind, you should view the first few days and weeks with your newborn as an experiment to see what works for you and your little one and what doesn’t.
Some things that you might want to try when your new little one, especially when they’re getting fussy, could include movement, patting or rubbing the baby, giving them more food or a pacifier, swaddling them in a blanket, using certain noises to help calm them down, and more.
Let People Help You
While you’re spending all of your time helping and learning about your new baby, there are going to be things around your home that you’re simply not able to get to. So when people offer to help you, although it can be hard to allow, it’s wise to let them lend a hand where they can.
To make this easier, consider making a list of things that you’d like to have help with, like having someone make a few meals, go grocery shopping, playing with your other kids, do some light housework, or run other errands for you. Then, when someone expresses a desire to help, give them something off of that list.
If you want to make it out of your newborn days smiling, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you and your new baby thrive during this time.
